EMILY SONGEY

CONTINUITY THROUGH ART IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

So perish anyone else who shall jump over my walls.1

The Roman Empire thrived for centuries based on its military ideal, the principle that

Rome was the dominant empire and that nothing and no one could bring it to an end. After years

of civil war, crime, and bloodshed during previous emperors and kings regimes, Octavian

who was later given the title of Augustus, or the August One was named emperor, and

thereby granted control over all major aspects of the newly created Roman Empire. Augustus,

the grandnephew of Julius Caesar, entered into the army when he was nineteen years old, and

became the ruler of the Roman Empire when he was only thirty-two years old.2 Augustus

needed to institute a feeling of national unity throughout the empire due to the amount of chaos

created during the civil wars previous to his reign. Therefore he needed to establish a new face

of Rome and also needed to promote himself as emperor. He did this through endorsing a

particular vision of Romes history and its foundation, which was illustrated through works of

art, myths, and epic legendary tales.

Emperors after Augustus, such as Constantine, had the same motives in using works of

art to illustrate the foundation of Rome and to promote themselves. Constantines works include

coins, the Vatican Virgil illuminated manuscript, and the Arch of Constantine, all with images

either representational of the myth of Romulus and Remus or of images from Virgils Aeneid. It

is through these foundation stories and works of art portraying the stories that the Greco-Roman

world is unified, and these cultural myths were created to enhance continuity between citizens in

the Roman Empire.

1 Jane F. Gardner, Roman Myths (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1993), 29. 2 Eve DAmbra, Roman Art (Cambridge University Press, 1998), 30.

Although there were many different epic tales told about the formation of Rome, the

story of Romulus and Remus is one of the most famous. The legend says that Rome was

founded around 750 BC by Romulus, who had a twin brother, Remus. Before Rome was

founded, King Numitor ruled Alba Longa but he was overthrown by his brother Amulius. Not

only did Amulius steal the throne from his older brother, but he also murdered Numitors son so

that he would not have a successor to the throne. In addition, Amulius forced Numitors only

daughter, Rhea Silvia, to become a Vestal Virgin so she would not have any children, but his

plan failed. One day, while Rhea Silvia was asleep, Mars, the Roman god of war, came upon her

and slept with her. She bore twin sons whom she named Romulus and Remus. Rhea Silvia was

killed by Amulius, thrown into the Tiber River, and her sons were put in a basket and floated

downstream to never be found. The legend says that the twins were found by a she-wolf, and

were cared for by a shepherd until they were old enough to revenge the wrongs done to their

family. The brothers put together an army and murdered Amulius so that Numitor could become

king again. Romulus and Remus then decided to create their own separate cities, and, according

to the legend, Romulus saw twelve vultures come down from the heavens and land on what

would later be named Rome. The vultures were considered a premonition from the gods and a

good omen for Romulus and his new city.3 Romulus created a small waist-high wall defining his

citys boundaries but Remus defied his brother and his brothers land by jumping over the wall

and mocking him. Romulus lost his temper and killed Remus for defying his rules and

regulations. Thus runs the legend of the foundation of Rome.

Not only does this myth present us with a founding story, but it also represents continuity

between the two ancient cultures of Greece and Rome. It does this by using the Roman god of

3 Kenneth Scott, The Identification of Augustus with Romulus-Quirinus, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 56:1 (1985), 91.

war, Mars, who is the same as the Greek god of war, Ares. This made understanding the legend

much easier for both the Greeks and Romans, therefore helping to combine the two cultures into

one Greco-Roman world. Combining the two cultures into one was very important because the

myth became more famous in the Roman Empire during Augustus reign. This was a time when

Romes military continued to expand the empires borders into different territories, yet wanted to

retain stability both socially and politically. The foundation myth of Romulus and Remus

managed to retain continuity, and many different images and figures were created of the two

brothers and she-wolf. These images were therefore produced in the Roman Empire to portray

the permanence of the Greco-Roman world and Romes strength.

Because of the popularity of this myth, many versions survive in text and image. This

can be seen on coins that were produced throughout the empire. For example, according to the

British Museum, silver coins were found which had been produced around 275 BC with imagery

of Romulus, Remus, and the she-wolf who suckled them.4 Coinage was very important

throughout the empire because it was a form of payment which most everyone would see at some

point in their lifetime. Coins would have been given to anyone people in the city, tradesmen,

or also men in the military who would travel to different parts of the empire and the coins

would be spread cross-country. Thus the myth of Romulus and Remus would be known to

anyone who had come across these coins, helping to establish continuity throughout the empire.

By having this uniting myth about the identity of Rome and its establishment by Romulus,

Romans and non-Romans within the empire were provided a common basis for their belief about

the history of the empire.

4 Silver Didrachm with Wolf and Twins Design, The British Museum, accessed April 2, 2009 (no date).

Coins have also been found which tie the emperor Constantine to Romulus, the first king

of Rome. Placing images of the emperor on coins was not unusual during the period: The

image of the ruling elite appears in realistic portraits in sculpted heads, busts, coins, or portrait

statues of the first century BC onward.5 This idea of presenting images of the elite on coins

started in the first century BC and continued throughout the end of the empire. Many coins were

produced and re-produced for the publics everyday use. Coins were incredibly available and

useful not only for monetary purposes but also for social purposes. According to Eve DAmbra,

a silver coin was found that was created around 315 AD with an image of Constantine, the

emperor at the time (Fig. 1). Constantine is portrayed with, a Christian monogram on his

helmet as a soldier of Christ and with an imperial Roman shield.6 On the shield that

Constantine takes to battle with him, DAmbra notes that the shield has the same representational

design of Romulus, Remus, and the she-wolf, all summarizing one thing: Rome. This coin is

very important, especially during Constantines reign over the Roman Empire, because it not

only has Christian elements that promote Christianity, but also has ancient Greco-Roman

elements, including the she-wolf and the representation of Romulus as the founder of Rome, thus

reinforcing the myth. Here, Constantine is comparing himself to Romulus or comparing

Romulus to himself, especially due to the fact that the imagery of the twins is on the shield that

he would have brought in to battle with him, implying that he would come out of war victorious,

as Romulus had. This coin, like the previous one described earlier, would have traveled

everywhere in the empire and passed through many different hands. These people would have

then seen the fact that Constantine was their emperor, that Christianity was a legal religion, and

also that Constantine was looking back to Romes past and portraying the founding myth of

5 DAmbra, 26. 6 DAmbra, 160.

Romulus and Remus. This coin helped to portray Constantine in a favorable way since it

establishes both that Constantine recognized Romulus as the founder of Rome, and traces his

authority as emperor to Romulus, and that he recognized the authority of Christ.

Although there is a great deal of imagery of the myth of Romulus and Remus that was

created in the Roman Empire to promote the Emperor, Virgils Aeneid also had a similar

purpose. According to Eve DAmbra, the story of Aeneas complemented the story of

Romulus and Remus and was represented in a variety of media from monumental relief sculpture

to satirical paintings and graffiti.7 DAmbra clearly states here that this myth was represented

on many different mediums and figures throughout the Roman Empire, so practically everyone

in the empire knew the myth of Aeneas. DAmbra also states that Virgils Aeneid was written

around 20 BC, under Augustus influence while he was the emperor. Augustus used his

influence on Virgil compel him to write this epic poem in order to disseminate to people

throughout the empire his version of the foundation of Rome, and his role as emperor and

therefore successor to the founder of Rome.

The myth begins with Aeneas, a Trojan who travels to Italy to find a second home with

the rest of his army because of a premonition that he would be the first to create a new people

and a new race from the gods. Unfortunately, his voyage took a turn for the worse because of

jealous gods, and they landed in Carthage where Aeneas tells the people which they met about

what had happened to him earlier in life, which was depicted in the Iliad. Aeneas and Dido, the

Queen of Carthage fall in love, but Aeneas does not stay with her. As his ship was sailing away,

he saw her funeral pyre in flames, but felt that he had to fulfill his destiny and go to the Italian

peninsula. They venture to Latium where war breaks out, but Aeneas and his army win and he is

7 DAmbra, 15.

able to begin the Roman race and empire.8 Many works of art were created to depict Aeneas

travels and his accounts with different gods. This can be seen in the beautifully illustrated

Vatican Virgil illuminated manuscript, which was created in the late fourth or early fifth century.

Throughout the manuscript, there are fifty different depictions and illustrations of scenes

from the Georgics and the Aeneid.9 This legend is of great importance when trying to

comprehend why Rome wanted to have a connection with the Greek world. Jas Elsner states

that:

All the complex politics of the formation of an imperial system were bolstered by a pervasive cultural programme (in the visual arts and in literature) which redefined Romes history in terms of the mythology of Augustus family (reaching back to Aeneas, the legendary ancestor of the Roman people) and which reconceptualized Romes relations with the Greek world, whose Hellenistic monarchies formed Augustus model for an empire dominated by a single ruler.10

The story is about a Greek who establishes the Roman Empire, thus again combining the two

worlds into one. One of the most famous scenes is the death of Dido, the Queen of Carthage and

Aeneas lover. In the Vatican Virgil illuminated manuscript, Dido is shown lying down with a

sword in hand, and surrounded by women that are mourning for her (Fig. 2). According to the

story, the sword belongs to Aeneas. Unfortunately for Dido, Aeneas left her in Carthage to

found a new country, as the gods had predicted, and because of this she stabbed and killed

herself with his sword. Before she committed suicide, Dido made a prediction that there would

forever be conflict between her people, the people of Carthage, and of Aeneas people in the

country that he would soon found. This is very important, especially in regards to the Roman

Empire, because Aeneas love of his new country was greater than his love for Dido, the

8 Virgil, Robert Fagles, The Aeneid (Penguin Books, 2008). 9 Judith Lynn Sebesta, Costume in the Vatican Vergil Codex, The Classical World, 87:1 (1993), 27. 10 Jas Elsner, Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph (Oxford University Press, 1998), 6.

beautiful Queen of Carthage. Aeneas would rather be victorious, and fulfill his destiny as the

new King of Rome.

Although there are two different stories of how Rome was founded, both The Aeneid and

the story of Romulus and Remus in fact coincide with each other. DAmbra states that, the two

strands of the founding myths, Romulus and Aeneas, are fitted together: Aeneass son Ascanius

founds the city of Alba Longa, ruled by a series of kings until Romulus establishes Rome,

allegedly in 753 BC.11 Not only do both legends tell us how Rome was founded, but also they

both connect, making these founders stories even more inspirational and important to Rome and

its citizens. They support the fact that the emperors were looking for continuity for the Roman

Empire, not change or instability. As Elsner states, one way to build a coherent cultural

background, to bind the peoples of the empire together, was to emphasize a shared cultural

heritage based on the classical myths and literature of Greece (and to some extent of Rome

itself).12 Because of these cultural myths the Roman Empire has, such as Romulus and Remus

and The Aeneid, they were able to establish unity throughout the empire and create a common

background and history.

This theme of continuity is also seen on the Arch of Constantine, a representation of the

connections between Roman emperors on a great victory monument. The Arch of Constantine

was created and dedicated to Constantine in 312-5 AD. It contains elements borrowed from

monuments for previous emperors (Fig. 3). It was a victory monument since it was created for

Constantine, three years after his portentous victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian

Bridge. The specific occasion is generally thought to have been the decennalia, the celebration

11 DAmbra, 15. 12 Elsner, 7.

of the tenth anniversary of Constantines rule as Emperor of the West.13 It is a composition of

imagery from monuments of the Emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius, who were all

considered heroes who played significant roles in Roman history. From the monument made for

Marcus Aurelius in the late 170s, the artists took the reliefs from the top story, which are now on

Constantines arch. From Trajans forum, the artists used the statues on the upper level of the

arch, which represent Dacian prisoners from the second decade of the second century AD.

Finally, from the monument created under Hadrian in the 130s, the artists used the roundels that

are now seen on the Arch of Constantine.14 It has many small scenes throughout the arch, all

varied in style because the scenes were created at different times in the Roman Empire.15

According to Elsner:

One of the persistent cultural features of the Roman world was its ability to reinvent itself while preserving a rhetoric of continuity. The present could be radically transformed above all by rewriting the past so that the new patterns of the present appeared as a seamless development from the past.16

This constant theme of continuity is very important in the Roman Empire because it was vital

that there was one common history in order to retain the idea of continuity and unity. The Arch

of Constantine is a great representation of these ideas because it is a collage of different

monuments from different emperors that all represent the same thing, the grandeur of the Roman

Empire. This arch is important, not only because it was a victory monument for Constantine, but

also because, like the modest coins discussed above, it was in public, a visual work of art that

everyone in the empire could see. It had imagery of battle and victory scenes from different

emperors, hunting and sacrifice scenes, and also has Constantines face re-created on the image

13 Mark Wilson Jones, Genesis and Mimesis: The Design of the Arch of Constantine in Rome, The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 59:1 (2000), 51. 14 Elsner, 6. 15 DAmbra, 85. 16 Elsner, 6.

of previous emperors faces. Although the representational styles shift dramatically and the

images on the arch show a great deal of change throughout the empire, the Arch of Constantine

represented a continuation of the Roman world, from Marcus Aurelius reign to Constantines

Empire, all in one work of art.

The idea of continuity was very important for the Roman world. Rome was constantly

changing politically, socially, and geographically over the years. It was imperative that the

citizens throughout the empire had an unifying myth of Romes history and foundation. In order

to comprehend Romes history, the founders myths of Romulus and Remus and the Aeneid

made understanding the history of the empire easier. Emperors such as Augustus and

Constantine used these stories to promote the Roman Empire and to promote their own agenda.

Augustus was promoting the new institution of the Empire, whereas Constantine was promoting

a new religion, Christianity.17 These mythological images were then transplanted onto public

works such as coins and monuments, as well as more private works, such as manuscripts.

Therefore, these images and the stories that connected them to the Roman world were

everywhere in the empire, helping to created a unified concept of history and empire. The

images of Romulus and Remus on coins and images from the Aeneid in the illuminated

manuscript and on Constantines arch all helped to preserve continuity in the Roman world,

which allowed it to be a prosperous and united Empire.

17 DAmbra, 159.

Figures

Fig. 1: Silver Coin of Constantine I, c. 315

(Image credit: University of California, San Diego)

Fig. 2: Vatican Virgil Vat. Lat. 3225 fol. 41r The Death of Dido, late 4th-early 5th C., Biblioteca

Apostolica Vaticana,

(Image credit: University of California, San Diego)

Fig. 3: Arch of Constantine, c. 312-315 CE, Rome, Italy

(Image Credit and original data: SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.)

Fig. 4: Diagram of the Arch of Constantine

(Image credit: http://sights.seindal.dk/sight/299_Arco_di_Costantino.html)